Handler Who
by Fratter Waan
Summary: The Puffle Handler is secretly a Gallifreyan who sneaks in adventures with Gary or her puffles between public appearances on Club Penguin. On another part of the island, Aunt Arctic (also known as the Director of the EPF) tries to catch the Handler and other extraterrestrials using the secret organization Firewood.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: "Handler Who" is on hiatus because I am debating whether to keep writing it, revise it, or drop it entirely. On my profile page, a reader can vote on what to do. Thank you for your time.**

Snow crunched under her feet as she ran through the blanketed, evergreen forest. The bedraggled pink penguin clung to her Australian hat as it tried to fly off. Despite the cold, she felt hot and tired from the long run, and her appearance looked as if she had run miles through a forest, which she had. Not far from the penguin stomped a shadowed figure. Its size matched that of the Aqua-Grabber easily, and it bared fangs the size of kitchen knives. It snarled and smoothly strode towards the penguin, with malice and ill intent.

Soon, the tired person was reinvigorated when she started recognizing the landscape. "Just a little further," She mumbled to herself. Then, the creature in pursuit roared a deep and angry roar. Her courage faltered, but adrenaline kept her going.

In a secluded, well hidden clearing stood a bright yellow vehicle. Any penguin could easily mistake the truck for a normal snow plow, but that is what the Chameleon Circuit is supposed to do.

The penguin, with great familiarity, grabbed the door handle while running and slipped inside with ease. The creature outside became enraged and trotted over to where it saw its prey last and sniffed the vehicle skeptically. It scratched the paint with its horns before ramming into the apparently flimsy metal box. The car nearly flipped over, but the penguin inside was far from panicking. She had the upper hand now.

Inside the Snow-Trekker was surprisingly roomy, with comfy clock inspired chairs, a variety of buttons, and a spacious ceiling that had an echo. There was no way one could fit such a large central room into a tiny snow plow, but this "one" they speak of was probably still trying to overcome the dizzying reality of the Type 10 TARDIS.

Comfortably, the penguin welcomed the sight of her beloved machine and the machine thrummed a welcome to her, but she hurriedly went to work. She zipped around the control console frantically, pressing buttons, pulling levers, and checking monitors like she had been doing so her whole life. Suddenly, a loud scratching noise came from the outer walls of the Snow-Trekker, followed by an ominous echo. Looking up from her button-pressing-frenzy, the penguin listened to the silence afterward. An eerily tranquil moment passed before unexpectedly, the entire room crashed sideways, throwing the penguin off balance. She and her vehicle recovered from the hit, but she wasted no time taking off.

Outside, the monster snorted and prepared to strike again the metal box when suddenly, it made a soft "Wooshing" noise. Thinking nothing of it, the creature charged anyway, and was inches away from making contact with its horns to the surface of the vehicle when the metal box mysteriously became opaque, then completely non-existent. The unexpected disappearance made the creature stumble forward into the space where the TARDIS used to be. Realizing its loss, the monster bellowed out of frustration before acknowledging its failure and reluctantly leaving the site.

Inside her Snow-Trekker, the penguin sighed out of relief and more calmly stabilized the machine's flight by pressing more buttons and pulling more levers. It was not until the penguin was settled and listening to the familiar "Woosh" of her vehicle that she thought to asses the damage. Mostly she had bruises and minor cuts from stray branches, but she was unsettled about one thing: on her left flipper wrist was two tiny and nearly impossible to detect puncture wounds sat next to each other. From a glance, it looked minor, but she knew better. She scolded herself for not considering the small Sugar-bellied Arctic Snake population, who, in particular, had the deadly and slow-acting poison with no known cure even in the future.

The penguin crumpled onto a nearby chair and looked nervously at the small bite. Already she was feeling light headed, and now she acknowledged it was not from the running.

It was coming. The day she dreaded for years had come and she was far from prepared to face it. Skillfully, she changed the course of the machine to a constant circling in the void. There was the best place to hide, anyway.

_Should I say goodbye? _She thought, but it was pushed aside along with all the other frantic thoughts. As much as she loved adventure and new things, this never was high on her list of things to do, and for one thing, she had never done it before. That felt horrible.

So, it began. Staring at the bite, she watched at a small wisp of golden mist fluttered through and suddenly the bite seemed to never had occurred. She felt a slight tugging sensation next to an exhaustion that was not wholly the marathon's fault.

Emotionally, she felt scared. a long time ago, she vowed to herself to do her best not to die, but she decided it was inevitable either way. Perhaps the adventurous nature she had must be the death of her, literally, but how could she resist?

Naturally, she suppressed the energy. She had grown to like this body and changing it was a nightmare, but she could not hold it back forever.


	2. Chapter 2

Gary, the Gadget Guy, had started his evening like any other. A daily dose of coffee that could stagger a walrus was poured in his collector's 2001 Comic Con mug as the dreary-eyed scientist pulled on his coat. Gary was always inspired to build something new and cool (that usually malfunctioned), but honestly, he was not a morning person. He absent-mindedly unlocked all the security protocols on his gadget room and yawned as he walked in. The silent, empty room greeted him, but by now he was too used to working alone.

Already with a pen in hand, he took out a blue sheet of paper then started sketching a design. His head drooped low and a sigh escaped his beak when unexpectedly, a low humming noise hissed from behind him. Instinctively, Gary swiveled around to catch a glance of the materialized snow plow that happened to land in his Gadget Room. His jaw dropped along with his coffee mug, which shattered on the floor.

The door swung open and a plume of smoke bellowed out. Hopping out quickly was a brown penguin wearing a khaki jacket, a pink top, jean skirt, and an Australian hat. Freckles neatly dotted either side of her beak and a loose brown ponytail swayed around her shoulders.

Looking up at the paralyzed Gadget Guy, she unimpressively said in a light Australian accent, "Oi, mate! Get over 'ere and help me out, will ya? She's throwing a fit." She then looked inside and fanned the smoke away. "Extractor fans on, sweetheart. It's rather musty in 'ere" She muttered to the Snow Trekker.

Gary, meanwhile, still stared in awe at the randomly appearing snow plow. "W-what!?" He stammered, "W-who are y-you? And how did you get into this facility?"

"Honestly, mate, _I_ got no idea who I am…" She responded thoughtfully before coughing out some golden yellow smoke which wisped away like breath on a mirror.

"Am I Ginger?" She added absently. "Ooh, wait, no…" She hummed. "I don't like the color of my kidneys. Well, get what you get and don't-"

Realizing her position, the penguin replied quickly, "Gary, what year is it? Wait, no, don't tell me. The year your favorite mug broke. Yep, it's 2005."

"My-my mug!" He panicked, realizing the statement.

"Oh, shoot. I managed to land in the wrong year. Ya hear that sweetie? You gotta get some better accuracy," She hollered at the Snow Trekker.

Finally, Gary patted his coat and found the pocket that held his PSA phone and nervously pressed the customized "Panic" button. "Stay right where you are!" he timidly declared.

He called into his phone, backing away, "Nearby agents, get over here quick! Somebody infiltrated the base and-an-and...You just have to see for yourself…"

"No, no, no! Please don't do that! oh, great," She sighed stressfully. "Forget it, mate. I'll just go to the right year…" and with that, she jumped inside her time machine and slammed the door shut.

A millisecond before a trio of fully equipped field agents burst through the door, the TARDIS started to dissolve.

"Sir,-" One of the sunglasses-agents started, but he was cut off by Gary who held up a flipper to listen to the unforgettable "Woosh" of the TARDIS. Silence followed.

Clearing his throat, the agent continued, "Sir, we need you to vacate this area for investigation and other protocols…"

Another agent, more laid back by the looks of it, cut to the chase and said bluntly, "Who is she?"

Gary swallowed, still trying to process the episode. Absently, he responded, "She-she's my ...No, no. I've never seen her before in my life,"

"Alright, sir," The third agent said. "Call the Director. This is important."

"Who?" Gary asked. "W-we don't have a director..."

"Sorry, sir, wrong year." the agent clipped, then purposefully turned and left the room before any other PSA workers added to the confusion.


	3. Chapter 3

Inside the TARDIS, the newly regenerated Puffle Handler swirled around merrily, pressing buttons, pulling levers, and checking monitors rather frantically. The familiar "Woosh" sound filled the large interior as the Snow-Trekker made a U-turn in the time vortex and bobbled around for a minute before finding a nice landing place in the near future. A satisfying "Kntkunck" of the breaks came from the imperfectly landed TARDIS. Excitedly, PH skipped over to the door and swung it open to find the same Gary the Gadget Guy, the later version, cleaning his round glasses, so used to the soft "Woosh" noise, it was white noise to him.

"Hiya, mate!" She gleamed.

Without looking up (It wouldn't have made a difference because of his near blindness while not wearing glasses) he said, "Oh, hello, PH…" Predicting her words he followed with "And also, it's the year 2006."

"Goodie, I landed in the right eon…"

"You don't sound like yourself…" Gary looked up, but without glasses, his remark was oblivious.

"Did you get a new haircut?"

PH sighed exasperatedly, "Put on your glasses."

Gary sighed, but put on his partially cleaned glasses. When he saw her new face, he became enraged.

"Seriously?! I told you not to die!"

"...Am I ginger, blonde, raven…?" She listed, ignoring the statement.

"Brunette," Gary responded as if it were a typical question, before realizing what he was doing.

Confusedly, PH said " I've never regenerated before, so I got no idea what I'm supposed to do."

Gary stuttered a bit before pausing to formulate some right words for the situation, but the only words that he could come out with were "You died!"

"Yes, I know."

"You died!" he repeated.

"C'mon," PH cut him off, holding out a flipper, welcoming. "Let's go for an adventure, mate. Just like old times as a companion, remember? It's not like I can un-die."

"You died."

"I get it! Let's just go have some fun."

He smiled and took her hand.

"Just to remind you, you died."

"Shh! Just shush. You'll ruin the moment." With that, they both climbed in like two children running to the playground, and closed the door, ignoring the world.

"Yeah, let's go on an adventure." Gary reluctantly, but excitedly muttered.

Meanwhile, another penguin watched from a glitchy monitor the whole event. Gary had forgotten the new security cameras he put up since the Handler's previous departure, and from their perched gaze, the cameras saw it all. As the Snow Trekker TARDIS disappeared, the observer calmly tapped the table and cocked his head to one side, like he always did when he was planning. When the two traveler's departure was confirmed, the unwanted spy briskly closed the window from which he hacked the PSA system, then shut the laptop lid with a click. The penguin smiled at his discovery then decided this was good enough news to keep him alive.


	4. Chapter 4

"Somethin' big, I'll say. No regular sized puffy could make a path that big in an hour," the Handler discussed while zipping around in her usual manner, pressing buttons, pulling levers, and checking monitors.

"It could have been a...naturally occurring optical illusion?" Gary offered hopefully.

The Handler paused long enough to shoot him a "seriously?" glare.

"Nah," She filled in. "I'm pretty sure that optical illusions don't bite, snarl, knock down trees, or bump TARDISes, mate."

Gary rocked back and forth on one of the clock chairs pensively. "Er...perhaps it was a sea lion? They tend to wind up here looking for directions, and are easily misunderstood."

"Nope." She denied Gary's optimistic theory. "When in doubt assume the worst possible outcome. After it is proven otherwise, then assume the best. So far it has worked for me," She then dramatically jammed the zig-zag plotter down hard.

"I give up." Gary sighed, having realized this new regeneration's stubbornness. "What do you think it is,...this horrible, horrible monster?"

Noticing the moment to use what she had been planning to say for nearly an hour, PH turned around a second from her steering to face Gary. She smiled and with an ominous voice she spoke slowly, "Something's in Club Penguin's forest around A.D. 1204, and it ain't happy. my best guess is as good as yours, mate."

"Yeah, right," Gary mumbled skeptically, but still leaned in closer to hear the rest.

PH said nothing, but a soft "Krtunk" noise confirmed their landing and anxiously, the two tried to contain their excitement as they hurried to the door, wondering what they would find on the other side.

With a creaky swing, the door flew open to reveal the most boring of landscapes: trees. The clear blue sky made the old snow sparkle in its light on top of the young evergreen trees. Neither one of them cared to stop and marvel at the fact that these young trees were the same trees that now stood strong and tall in the oldest part of the wilds.

"C'mon, mate! We've got a monster to catch!" The Handler said unnecessarily as the pair burst out the door. Glancing back, PH made a note to herself that the chameleon circuit had made her TARDIS look like a boulder that seemed to have stood there for centuries. Then, she turned around and followed Gary, who had a few seconds of a head start.

"Just like the good old times…" she murmured as she sprinted to catch up.


	5. Chapter 5

Twenty miles from where Gary and the Puffle Handler had landed, the same massive creature that chased the Handler sniffed the air then snorted. It growled angrily remembering the scent, then stood up from it's lying position. The monster clawed the ground and swayed its massive tail absently. It broke into a run towards its foe, knocking down young saplings as it carved a path for itself. 


	6. Chapter 6

"So...where do we start?" Gary broke the silence. The pair ambled away from the TARDIS, determining how to investigate. PH walked next to him, thinking feverishly about how to scientifically scan the entire area with the supplies available. To be prepared, she brought heavy boots for them both to protect against any form of ground reptiles.

"Well, we shouldn't split up but this area would take way too long to scout together…" She thought aloud. "Perhaps if we found natives and ask if they have any legends about giant angry monsters…"

"But the medieval inhabitants have yet to fully settle in this area. the best native we'd get is a lone settler or a tiny, poor village. Even then, they'd be extremely hard to find out here and we'd make better time if we just went looking for the monster ourselves." Gary returned.

"True." PH added. "It would take me...even me...a couple hours to construct a specific scanner without any DNA or visual leads or bases..."

"Well," Gary pondered. "We could always try to-"

He was cut off by a distant roar that shook the ground. Both of them stopped immediately. Above them a flock of birds scattered into the sky in a flutter and some snow shook off the branches of some nearby trees. The roar waned, but the danger did not.

Gary and the Handler stopped and looked at each other and with fright but a hint of excitement Gary said, "...Or it could come to us…"

Without needing to say more, the two ran back towards the Snow Trekker. In there, they would be able to observe it from a safe distance.

While running, Gary stepped in something wet and looked down to see a small stream passing by. Disappointed, he kept running in his soggy boots. PH, on the other hand, jumped right over it without slowing. This difference created a five foot gap between the two.

Despite their head start, the monster managed to catch up and Gary could see the shadowy creature following about twenty yards behind, but the gap was closing.

"Er...PH?" Gary said over the snap of branches and rustle of leaves as they ran. "I think it's behind us, and it won't take long for it to catch us!"

"I'm fully aware, mate!" She called back sarcastically.

"Yeah, that's great…" He faltered and looked forward. With one dash and a quick slip through the trees, PH found the misplaced boulder, that was her TARDIS, and began to unlock it with her sonic screwdriver which she had nearly forgotten was in her left pocket.

"C'mon, Gary!" She yelled back while opening the appearing door on the boulder. Not a moment later, Gary leapt inside the TARDIS followed by PH. She slammed the door closed and ran over to the control board to watch the external surveillance.

"Come over 'ere!" She whispered and waved Gary over. from the screen, the pair could see their own footprints recently made on the crunchy snow and stomping on top of those footprints was the creature. The two penguins squeezed in for a closer look at it.

Although they only could see it for a few seconds before the animal gave up and ran away, PH knew instantly what it was and gasped. Gary, however, stared at the empty scenery blankly, oblivious to the realization.

"What was it?" Gary turned to PH and asked.

Still terrified, she said nothing.

"Seriously, PH, what was it?" He pushed, more intently.

PH only shook her head and said "Sorry...I can't say. I shouldn't reveal future events…"

"B-b-but, I mean, what could be so bad in the future that I can't know about it? Have you, like, gone through this event before?" He stammered.

"Nope," she returned. "You probably have seen too much already, mate." At this she began pressing buttons, pulling levers, and checking monitors.

"Has this ever stopped us before?" He recalled. This comment stopped the Handler in her tracks.

Sternly, she turned around to look at him squarely in the eye. "No, it has never stopped us, but this regeneration says you're going home, right now."

At this, Gary stopped, and even though this PH was different, he recognized little bits of the past PH, like her "Stop talking, and agree with me, now." voice.

In less than a few seconds, the TARDIS landed with a "Kertunk" and the Handler opened the door to the gadget room. Usually, the sight of his favorite thinking box would cheer him up, but today, it seemed more like a heartless buss stop.

"Why?" Gary built up his courage. "Why must safety overrule what I already acknowledged was dangerous? Do you want me to sign a 'I agree to the terms and conditions' paper?"

They both stepped out of the TARDIS, but the Handler said nothing. An awkward second passed before PH spoke up.

"I don't hate you, please don't get me wrong 'ere. It's just that…" She sighed, trying to form the right words. "If you know too much, the future could be altered for the worse…"

"Or better," Gary added.

"But most likely for the worse. I shouldn't take that risk."

"What happened to the Handler I knew? You asked me to think of a way to prove you're the same person, and despite all the evidence saying you are the real PH, I don't believe you." He retaliated.

"You're right; I'm not the same person." She unexpectedly confessed. "I'm still physically me, but everything about me that made me who I am to you is gone. That me died. Now, there's-"

"You just had to go and die, didn't you?!" Gary lashed out angrily. "I told you dying is bad for you, and you didn't listen. I don't care if you're the same cellular PH or not, I just want her back!"

He huffed and long pause fell over the room. Then, the Handler opened her beak as if choking and a wisp of regeneration energy floated out. They both watched as it rose to the ceiling and dissipated.

Finally one of them spoke softly "I hate it, too." PH whispered. "I hate it alot, but what a hate more is seeing you suffer like this." She paused. "Sometimes I regret choosing you because I might just kill you one day, and unlike a Gallifreyan, you'd actually die. But what I tell myself when I say that is 'Who'd be by my side? Who'd support me or criticize me when I make a decision? How would I live with myself without you?'" She swallowed, gaining volume. "If you hate this regeneration stuff as much as I do, th-then let's prevent this me from becoming worse and we'll both go on a super dangerous adventure."

The Handler suddenly uplifted the mood with a smile at Gary and a soft laughter on his part. PH helped Gary climb back into the Snow Trekker TARDIS with a more joyous attitude. Just like the old times, the Handler and Gary excitedly closed the door and the TARDIS also excitedly disappeared from the gadget room.

When the two had left, they didn't realize how close they were to being caught. Within the previously assumed empty gadget room a whole team of fully armed penguins stood in strategically placed positions. Immediately, a few team members ran over to where the Snow Trekker used to be, looking for any signs of invisibility or transportation residue. Another few went outside the room searching for the possibility of escape. The rest stood ready to fire in case of an invisibility trick.

One of the members who was not armed, held a small tablet and spoke into it quietly. "No sign of them, ma'am. I'm afraid we missed our chance…" he faltered. "P-perhaps w-we might be a-able to set a more formal trap for them instead of waiting and-"

He was cut off by the other side of the communication line by a purposely distorted voice. "No. Stick to the plan." and the communication line was severed.

The penguin nodded to a team member nearby and with a codeword, the entire team immediately regrouped and like they had never been there, the team teleported out, having overridden the PSA anti-teleportation field.

Not a moment later, Rookie came waddling into the Gadget Room, looked around the empty room a second, then shouted casually back out of the room "JPG? Where's Gary?"

From the monitor room, Jet Pack Guy boredly looked up from his newspaper and shouted back "He's still on vacation. Stop bugging me." and kept reading the Club Penguin Times, completely unaware.


	7. Chapter 7

"Are you certain this won't backfire?" Gary said unsurely up at a tree.

Perched on a high branch, the Handler replied "It's not one of your ideas so I'm sure it can't, mate."

"Um, I guess?" Gary confusedly agreed, the friendly insult flying over his head.

Gary stood next to the tallest tree they could find, holding a huge piece of fresh sirloin. PH climbed the tree to watch from above. Obviously, there had been opposition to this simple plan.

"Why can't I be in the same tree as you? This steak is good enough in my opinion." Gary complained.

"Stop whining, mate, or else you'll scare it away. You're the backup bait."

"I think scaring it away is the least of our worries. Geez." They stopped talking when they heard a crunching sound. They recognized it from the chase, but these steps were much slower, indicating walking.

"Shh!" PH hushed unnecessarily. Gary quaked on the spot. He saw the monster's red eyes first floating in the shadows. Then the rest of the monster revealed itself from the cover. It's shape was distinctly round like a puffle, but the rest of it seemed very un-puffle like. It was black and had a red stripe following down its prickly spine all the way to its pointed tail. A snout like a T-rex's protruded from where a puffle's grin should have been, and the largest teeth Gary had ever seen were in its reptilian muzzle. It growled, but then the growl quickly morphed into delight. Gary hopefully held up the steak hopefully with a weak grin and stammered "You want it, boy?" then laughed nervously.

Once the monster saw him, it only glared, back to its teeth being bared in a snarl. PH whispered desperately after a silent face-palm "It's a girl."

"Oh." He dropped the steak and his nervous smile melted. As if the monster puffle heard him, it clawed the ground and snorted, more livid than before. Gary let out an insignificant squeak before breaking into a full run. Naturally, the monster pursued, but that's when the Handler came into play. She leapt out of her hiding place and expertly landed on its back. Like a cowgirl, she lassoed the monster, tucking a rope under its upper jaw. At this, she used it to stabilize herself on its spiny back. Obviously, the creature retaliated in every way it could.

Meanwhile, Gary turned around, realizing he was not consumed yet, and watched in awe as PH rode the bucking monster while appearing to be enjoying herself.

"What next?" he asked ignorantly and shrugged unhelpfully. Over the growls and roars of the creature , she yelled "I got no idea. I'm making it up as we go!" Gary sighed, and weary with the repetition of this small phrase, muttered to no one in particular, "We're in trouble." The monster reared. Expecting this, PH warned "Look out!" right before it charged in Gary's direction. He smartly scurried out of the way as it charged through. Gary whooped for PH excitedly, until he realized that he probably should be following her. And so he ran down the path made by the rampaging puffle-monster.

_**Author's note**_**: Handler Who is currently on hiatus and I am debating whether or not to continue it. To give your opinion of what to do with it, go to my profile page, Fratter Waan, and vote using the poll. Thank you for your concern.**


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